Challenge
Despite extensive investment in border security by nation-states, transnational illicit activities and undocumented immigration continue worldwide. Border control remains a challenge, and securing national borders is of growing importance with geopolitical disturbances of populations and dilatory effects from a changing climate. However, new border monitoring systems, supported by secure communication protocols that enable sensors and monitoring equipment to share information, prove to be an effective and efficient means of securing national borders. Using physical barriers to dissuade illegal traffic is impractical and costly, so border scanning and intrusion detection are ideal solutions.
This case study describes applying a set of technologies for border monitoring and security by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in a sensitive region outside of the United States. DTRA has extensive experience in implementing systems and practices to enhance capabilities to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction across borders in challenging geopolitical regions.
Solution
DTRA elected to deploy an intelligent fence on a border that could accomplish these objectives by electronically monitoring a zone that ultimately spans 290 Km along the border.
- Monitor the operations in real-time
- Detect intrusions over the border
- Identify the type of intrusion immediately
- Aggregate and report information to a control room
- Enable immediate action by an operations team
Complexity of Real-Time Data Collection
The mission of the Intelligent Border Fence project was to create a reliable system that can detect intrusions across vast areas. Following an initial site survey and the development of project requirements, DTRA selected URS Corporation, to create a design and implement its border security project. URS contracted with Integration Objects to integrate and deploy the Intelligent Common Operating Picture (iCOP). Integration Objects was selected due to the company’s leading position in building and deploying robust and secure mission critical decision support applications, pulling real-time data streams from multiple remote disparate field equipment and sensors.
Integration Objects also brought experience in artificial intelligence, industrial IoT, Big Data Analytics, cybersecurity, and project management for governments and institutions.
The system’s architecture is complex, incorporating a central control room in addition to four remote control rooms. The central and remote-control rooms are fed with information supplied from 35 towers and 664 connection points covering an area of 19,500 Km² using advanced data transmission equipment. Each surveillance tower is equipped with infrared and electro optical cameras, 360° radars, wireless antennas, heavy-duty solar panels, a diesel generator that acts as a fail-safe to the solar panels, and CCTV cameras to monitor the remote assets. Additionally, each tower is linked to an intelligent Remote Terminal Unit (RTU), which is also supplied by Integration Objects. The RTUs collect status data of the assets such as diesel generator oil and fuel levels and solar panel status to monitor equipment conditions. For example, RTUs report on solar panel batteries and enable operations to decide if failsafe protocols should be engaged and notify all control rooms to avoid downtime. Intrusion detection automatically swivels the EO/ IR Cameras and zooms in on the intrusion whilst instantly notifying the control room, which distributes the detection alarm to military Border Response Unit (BRU) vehicles with pinpoint GPS accuracy.
Expediting real-time data streams presents an extra layer of complexity and intricacy compared to conventional integration and processing approaches. Nevertheless, the integrated system manages high data volumes in real-time with redundancies built-in. As constructed, the overall infrastructure and modularized components make the solution highly scalable.
Smart IoT Highway (SIOTH)
Integration Objects SIOTH is a secure integration communication bus that supports multiple protocols to process different data formats (heterogeneous data), enabling connection to EO/IR cameras, RADARS, CCTV cameras, Cradle Points, and Harris radios. SIOTH collects, processes, and distributes data to the Intelligent Common Operational Picture (iCOP) via its intelligence layer. The SIOTH Unified Human-Machine Interface (HMI) presents distilled information to BRUs to enable fast and effective response. The audio and visual alerts serve up a unified view of the border status in an easily maintained platform by operators and supervisors. The SIOTH and its interactive HMI summarize key operational issues that can potentially impact border surveillance operations and soldiers’ safety.
Robustness of the complete solution was a requirement from the outset, and not a single crash has been reported since operations were initiated over three years ago. The system has also enjoyed an extremely low False Alarm Rate/Nuisance Alarm Rate (FAR/NAR). Furthermore, the project’s architecture ensures instantaneous deployment at scale. Since historical data is being recorded and archived, the system provides traceability of access and events along the border and the conduct of employees internal and external to the control rooms, which further supports overall system integrity. History playback, incorporated with AI pattern behavior identification, facilitates detailed investigation of previous intrusions.
Smart Borders of the Future
Intelligent fences implemented across national borders present nations and their institutions with a reliable, efficient and cost-effective way of managing and patrolling vast areas with minimum resources. Human resources can be used more effectively by patrolling and monitoring dead zones or responding to alarms set off by an intrusion immediately. In the situation described here, a scalable system connected to a network of sensors notifies the closest BRU to the vicinity of the intrusion, resulting in an immediate and effective response.
Smart borders will require an integrated set of commercial technologies that can be implemented and maintained cost-effectively. SIOTH by Integration Objects continues to deliver a secure, robust solution for enabling communications among disparate systems and sensors.